Author: Dee

How to Defrag Your Hard Drive When was the last time you defragged your hard drive? If you're like most computer users, it's probably been a long time. If you answered, "Never," or, "I don't even know what that is!" we're going to show you, now. What is defragging? In simplest terms, it's taking all the bits and pieces of information stored on your hard disk and reorganizing them. Think of your computer's hard disk as a big closet where everything gets tossed. Shoes, clothes, old cell phones, other gadgets and odds and ends...

Feeling safe and secure about your passwords? You might want to take a seat, because that is about to change. [caption id="attachment_1451" align="alignright" width="300"] How secure is your password? It might not matter anymore.[/caption] If you read only one article on password security this year, make it this one. In it, Mat Honan lays waste to the idea that passwords are anything but an inconvenience to hackers. After taking over his Apple, Twitter and Gmail accounts, hackers destroyed his digital life in the span of an hour. Documents, data -- even pictures of his 18-month-old daughter were wiped out. Think it can't happen to you? Think again. Do you reuse the same password on multiple sites? Do you use "dictionary" words less than 16 characters in length? Do you have your email account linked to multiple accounts, such as Twitter and Facebook? When you need to reset a password, is that the same email address the notification goes to? I have news for you: you are vulnerable. Learn some of Mat's suggestions and tips to keep your data more secure, such as setting up double-authentication on your accounts when offered, setting up an email address exclusively for password resets that isn't linked to anything else and the best way to answer those "personal" questions, such as, "What was your first car?" and "Where were you born?" Proficient hackers can usually answer these questions with a few strategic Google searches! The article may be a bit lengthy, but it provides an eye-opening education into what it takes to keep your data secure, these days. Note that we aren't suggesting you retreat from the web, just that you exercise a little more caution in what kind of information you publish and how securely you lock it down. Be safe!...

Don't fall for phony FBI malware! [caption id="attachment_1346" align="alignleft" width="300"] FBI malware locks your computer, demands ransom to unlock it.[/caption] This article on Ars Technica points out that so-called "ransom ware" is becoming an increasing cause for concern as it is responsible for bilking $5 million a year from victims. The malware in question disables the victim's computer, displays a serious-looking warning and then demands payment to unlock the machine, insisting that if the victim doesn't pay up, they will be arrested by the FBI. As scary as it may seem, it's not real. Don't fall for this scam! As the unsuspecting victim may not be aware, this message DOES NOT come from the FBI. You are not obligated in any way to pay this "fine," as it is simply an act of extortion. Again, this message is not from any law-enforcement agency -- it is a scam, an illegal operation only looking to extort money from helpless victims. It is the result of malware that has infected your computer and will need to be cleaned out immediately. DO NOT enter your information, and DO NOT pay the "fine!" If you see this message on your screen, or suspect that you may have been infected, we urge you to contact NEPA Geeks immediately so that we can evaluate your system and determine a course of action. Even if you feel that the amount is small and you simply want your computer to work again, don't give them what they want! There is no guarantee that the bad guys won't simply disable your computer again, demanding more money. The best course of action is to have us remove the malware for you. In the long run, it will cost far less to clean the system while dramatically reducing the risk that your personal information could end up in the hands of criminals. Be safe, be smart! We also offer software that can prevent such infections from happening in the first place. Contact us so we can help!...

How to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks - Part 4 - Your first post! Welcome to Part 4 of our series on blogging. So far, we've talked about what blogging is, how to buy a hosting account on NEPA Geeks to host your blog and how to set up your first blog using our easy hosting solution. Now, we'll show you how to make your first blog post and a simple "About Me" page. If you haven't done so already, log into your WordPress blog. (In case you've forgotten, to log in, simply add /wp-admin/ to the end of your domain name. For example, yoursite.com/wp-admin/ Enter your username and password in the boxes on this page and you're in!) Click on the Posts link in the left-hand menu or hover your mouse pointer over the word Posts and click on "Add New." You'll notice a box with the text "Enter title here" in grey text. This where you'll put the title/headline of your first blog post. You can enter whatever you'd like, but a short "Hello, World!" or "Welcome to my blog" message will do for now. Below the title box is a much larger box where you'll enter the body of your blog post. At the top of the body box is a small icon you can use to upload images and other media (such as music or video files). We'll focus on that later, but for now, the icons slightly below that are the text formatting buttons where you can make your text bold, italic, add strikethrough text, bullet lists and more. Feel free to play around with them just to get yourself acquainted with how they work, but they won't do much until you have some text entered into the body box. By now, you're probably familiar with applications such as Word or OpenOffice and have a pretty good idea of how to enter and format text. Or maybe you've used GMail, Facebook or other social networking sites and have seen similar setups to the one you're seeing here. If so, WordPress works much the same. Once you've got some text and a title you're happy with, go ahead and hit the "Preview" button. This will let you see what the post will look like on your blog when it's published. Don't worry about how it looks if you're not happy with it, yet. No one can see this post, it's just a preview that is only available to you. Ready to publish your first blog post? Go ahead and hit the blue "Publish" button to the right of the body box. Alternatively, you can save a draft to work on later or tell WordPress to publish the post at a later date, automatically. It's up to you. Many people like publishing their posts as soon as possible while others like to write a few blog posts at once then set WordPress to automatically publish them throughout the week, freeing them up to work on other things. Remember: you can always edit posts even after they've been published. You can also set them back to draft mode or remove them entirely by deleting them. Once deleted, though, they're gone forever, so be careful! Now, let's create a Page. Pages are useful for giving people quick access to important information about something. For example, an "About" page that talks about you, your blog, products or services you might offer, links to other blogs, or anything you want people to see. You can always reference or link back to a past blog post, but pages can have a tab or link at the top of your blog for a more prominent display, where they're sure to be noticed by visitors to your blog. To create a page, from the Dashboard of your blog, click on Pages (or hover the mouse pointer above the Pages link and click "Add New" in the menu that pops out. Look familiar? No, you're not experiencing deja vu… The way you build a new page in WordPress is exactly the same way you write a new blog post -- even down to who can see it, when it gets published and how it looks. You can even edit and delete pages. It's exactly the same! This is what makes WordPress so special; you can build an entire website right from the same interface, and it's as easy as composing an email or creating a new document in Word. From here on out, the sky is the limit. You have control over how the blog looks, what it's used for and what you say on it. Welcome to the world of blogging. Have fun!...

How to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks - Part 3 - Building your blog In Part 2 of our series on how to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks, we showed you how to go through the process of purchasing an NEPA Geeks hosting plan. Now, we'll show you how to build your blog. If you haven't done so already, log into your account at http://www.nepageeks.com/hosting/clientarea.php Once inside, our one-click setup tool makes it a snap to get a WordPress blog installed on your hosting account. Simply click on the link to Products/Services in the right-hand side of the screen, or from the drop-down menu, click "Services" and then "My Services." On the next page, scroll down and click on the "View Details" button. It looks like this: Next log into cPanel by clicking the "Login to cPanel," which looks like this: Once in cPanel, scroll down and look for the "Fantastico De Luxe" icon (it looks like a blue smiley face, as pictured below): Fantastico will allow you to install more than a dozen services and platforms, but for now, click on WordPress under the Blogs section of the menu to the left. Next, click "New Installation." If this is going to be your main site, leave the install directory blank. Fill out the rest of the forms as you see fit and then click "Install WordPress." Assuming everything goes correctly, click "Finish Installation." Make sure to write down your username and password for your new blog. Once WordPress has been installed, it's time to log in to your WordPress blog. To log in, simply add /wp-admin/ to the end of your domain name. For example, yoursite.com/wp-admin/ Enter your username and password in the boxes on this page and you're in! Now you're ready to make your first blog post, which we'll cover in Part 4 of our series on how to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks....

How to get started blogging - Part 2 - Purchasing a hosting package If you've read Part 1 of our series on how to get started blogging and are ready to take the next step, read on. By now, you are eager to get started setting up your own very own blog. One of the great benefits about having a hosting account with NEPA Geeks is that you get full control over your blog. When it comes to the design and look of your blog, you aren't limited to a handful of templates that can't be changed. You can add plug-ins that increase your blog's reach and functionality, and it's a lot less expensive to have your own domain name with us. If you haven't chosen a hosting service, NEPA Geeks offers several options designed to suit the needs of a variety of customers. To get started with us as your host, the first thing you'll want to do is follow this link to purchase a hosting package. Feel free to explore each of the available options, but more than likely, entry-level bloggers who are just getting started will probably prefer NEPA Geeks Micro hosting package, with just enough features for you to post plenty of text, pictures and more. Once you've chosen a hosting package you have a few options to consider when it comes to your domain name. If you have a name you want, our form will allow you to see if it's available for purchase. However, if you have a domain name with another registrar and wish to transfer it to us, or if you just want purchase a hosting package and keep your existing domain where it is, you can do that, too. For now, we're going to assume that you want to purchase a new domain name. After choosing an available domain name, you'll have several options on how long you'd like to register it for. Note that if you register your domain with us and purchase an annual, biennial (2 years) or triennial (3 years) hosting package, your domain registration will be free. From there, simply proceed to the checkout and finish the purchasing process. Soon, you'll receive an email with your login information to get into your hosting account. Once you're able to log in, you'll be ready for Part 3 of our thrilling guide to setting up a WordPress blog with NEPA Geeks!...

How to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks Have you often thought about blogging but didn't know where to start, or how to begin? It's remarkably easy, and a lot of fun. If you know how to send email or post status updates to Facebook, you've already got the basics. Now, you just need to take a few more steps, and we can help! We've prepared a series of posts on how to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks, from choosing a host to setting up your blog to making your first post. Ready to get started? Read on! What is blogging? In simplest terms, a blog (short for "web log") is like an online diary. However, the concept can go far beyond that, extending to the point where a blog can be like a daily newspaper or magazine. A blog can have a single author, just writing about their day to day lives, or a blog can have a team of writers and editors, covering a wide variety of subjects and topics. It can focus on a single subject, a community or an organization. The post you are reading right now, for example, is published in a blog that is maintained by myself and the owner of NEPA Geeks, Jason Percival. We write about various technology issues as well as what's going on here at NEPA Geeks. If we have news about new services and products being offered, you can be sure to learn about it here! It's a great way to keep in touch with customers. The NEPA Geeks blog is running on a software platform called WordPress. However, WordPress can be used to do much more than simply run a blog. Each of the pages that make up this website were also created and published using WordPress. That's the versatility of this powerful platform! That's also why we recommend WordPress so heavily, if you should decide to set up your own blog. Don't worry if a lot of what you've read so far sounds really complicated. In the next few posts, we're going to show you how to use NEPA Geeks' hosting service and WordPress to set up a simple blog and an "About Me" page. We'll even show you how to get your own domain name! When you're ready to continue, follow this link for Part 2 on how to get started blogging with NEPA Geeks....

Did you know that NEPA Geeks offers reliable web hosting for your site or blog? It's true! We're not just your local computer repair shop, we're also your local hosting solution! What is web hosting? A web host is a high-speed Internet-connected computer with a vast amount of storage space. It can either hold personal files that you wish to back up or it can hold your website or blog and display it to visitors who come to your website. Whether you're running a home business, a corporate site or just want to set up a personal WordPress blog, NEPA Geeks offers a variety of hosting packages that are suited to fill your needs. We offer one-click setup for dozens of platforms, allowing anyone to easily and quickly build a website. All of our packages run on Linux-based servers, so you can count on them for rock-solid performance and dependability. For customers with more advanced needs, we also offer Virtual Private Servers, giving you the benefit of having full access to the configuration and management of your server. These packages are recommended for customers who have outgrown shared hosting plans and need a much more robust hosting solution. Many of our customers who are interested in selling products through their website may be happy to know that we also offer SSL certificates. A Secure Socket Layer connection ensures that information between your website and your customer is secured from hackers who would tap in to record the information being passed along. SSLs can also be useful for securing logins to your website, ensuring that users' data is secure during the login process. NEPA Geeks offers static IP address allocation, which you will need for an SSL certificate. Certain other web apps and software platforms will also require a static IP address allocation. Along with our hosting packages, we also have server data backup services offering from 10GBs of storage up to 1TB of RAID5 storage, with unmetered inbound bandwidth. (Outbound bandwidth is limited to 500GB/month.) As you can see, when it comes to hosting services, NEPA Geeks has you covered. Give us a call at 570.474.5100 or email us at staff@nepageeks.com and we'll be happy to discuss hosting solutions for you!...

Hurricane Sandy has mostly passed our area, yet she's still dumping large amounts of rain and snow on many areas along her path. We were very lucky that the worst we had to deal with was a power outage for a few hours, considering the devastation many people saw. Our thoughts are certainly with those who have lost their homes or loved ones. As I came in to work today, I was surprised to see a detour around a section of Route 309 between Hazleton and Mountain Top -- which has since been opened so that normal traffic flow may resume. In the meantime, Jason and I are here in the office and ready to return to business as usual. Jason replanted the NEPA Geeks' computer repair sign in front the office and we are open for business! On the blogging front, we're working on a series about how to build a blog using NEPA Geeks as your hosting solution. If you've always wanted to start blogging, keep your eyes on this space to learn more about what NEPA Geeks can do for you! As always, if you have any questions or need help with your computers, remember, we're always just a phone call away!...

Learn how protect your electronic equipment from Hurricane Sandy [caption id="attachment_1279" align="alignright" width="300"] From the National Hurricane Center in Miami[/caption] Hurricane Sandy is rapidly approaching, and this thing is set to make a historical impact on our area. Governor Tom Corbett has already announced that we are in a state of emergency, and many parts of New York and New Jersey are shutting down. The immediate future is looking pretty scary, but for the moment, the weather is calm. This is the time to get things done and learn how to protect your electronic equipment, before it's too late. By all means, your family's safety should be first and foremost on your mind. It would be a shame if your computer got fried and wouldn't turn on anymore, but that's nothing compared to the immeasurable loss of losing a loved one. Therefore, water, food, medicine and an evacuation plan are things you need to be working on immediately. However, if you've taken care of all that, here are some last minute things you need to do to ensure the safety of your computers and electronic equipment. Backup Your Data First of all, make sure you have your data backed up to an external hard drive or online data storage solution. This is something you should be doing regardless of an impending storm. Family photos, documents, school or work projects, emails and other important information that you don't want to lose should be taken care of immediately. But don't just assume that the data is safe simply because it's on an external disc, make sure the disc is kept somewhere safe, away from flood waters, extreme temperatures and sources of physical harm. Check Batteries for Power, Fuel-Up the Generator If you have vital equipment that needs to be powered at all times, now is a good time to make sure the battery backup system/generator is working and can maintain power for an extended period of time. If the power grid goes down, there's a possibility that it could be out for a few days. Charge up cell phones, flashlights, portable radios and anything else you might need that has a battery. Make sure the generator has fuel. Also, NEVER run a gas or diesel powered generator inside the house. Deadly levels of carbon monoxide gas can quickly build up and kill you. Likewise, a malfunctioning furnace or blocked-up chimney (for those of you building a fire in the fireplace to keep warm in the event of power loss) can quickly contribute to dangerous carbon monoxide levels. Learn and look for the warning signs of carbon monoxide poisoning and keep the house well ventilated. Flood Protection On the other side of the spectrum, a power surge or lightning strike can damage or destroy equipment. You should keep whatever you don't need unplugged and safely put away -- preferably in a high area of the house, just in case of flooding. Speaking of floods, if you live in an area prone to flooding, do a quick sweep of the basement/lower levels of the house to make sure that anything important is moved high up, out of the reach of flood waters. Sealing them in plastic would add extra insurance from water damage. Document Everything Sometimes, despite all precautions, accidents still happen. For that reason (and, more importantly, for the reasons we can't think of) everyone should have some kind of insurance. It might be too late to get a policy, but if you already have one, now is the best time to take pictures and document everything of value in your home. Electronics, vehicles, external views of your house...